


pavor nocturnus

by orphan_account



Category: Fringe
Genre: First Season, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-16
Updated: 2011-08-16
Packaged: 2017-10-22 16:29:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/240096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Pavor nocturnus," Walter explains.</p>
            </blockquote>





	pavor nocturnus

He comes to with his heart pounding in his chest and cold sweat trickling down his back. His mouth tastes of copper and his tongue is an uncooperative lump. Every cell in his body is urging him to act.

Looking around he finds himself surrounded by darkness; all the angles and shapes of the room wrong and unfamiliar. Then there's a sudden flicker in the looming shadows.

He's not alone.

Someone -- something -- is lurking in the darkness.

He struggles to move but there's a heavy pressure over his chest. Something is holding him down; snaring him and keeping him from moving. He tears at it with shaking hands while panting for breath.

A strange noise filters through his panic. A low moan. The kind you'd expect from a wounded animal. Only... almost human.

He looks up and there's someone standing there; a solid dark shape filling up the doorway. He freezes even though his mind is screaming at him to do something, do anything.

"I have to admit I always thought you would outgrow this," the figure mutters and then the room is flooded with light. He blinks and blinks and blinks and then it's Walter standing there; frowning down at him, wrapped up loosely in his red nightgown.

But even with the shadows banished, the sense of unease stays and his eyes roam the room as he wraps his arms around his chest.

"T-there was something here," he tries to explain. "In this room. I couldn't move. I was trapped."

"Pavor nocturnus," Walter explains in a strangely gentle voice. "You had them as a child too, remember?"

He doesn't.

"I couldn't breathe. I-I..."

His chest still hurts. Something is wrong, something is wrong but he doesn't know how to explain it. He wipes a trembling hand over his face. It comes away wet.

A warm hand pushes him down into the couch and untangles the blanket. He wants to protest, wants to push Walter away because this; this isn't them, this isn't what they do, this isn't what exists between them...

This is what Walter had forfeited, what he himself had lost. By the time his uncooperative limbs are reaching out to push the hands off him, Walter has already pulled away.

"Go back to sleep," Walter says.

Then he leaves Peter alone with the shadows.


End file.
